System and Method for Determining Information Reliability

• US 20100268776A1
• Filed: 10/14/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matthew Gerke
• Original Assignee: Matthew Gerke
• Inventors: Gerke, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 9,300,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

In a system and method for determining the trustworthiness of network content (e.g., information units), the system collects information on the logical relationship between various information units (e.g. various information units may be logically inconsistent, logically identical, or otherwise logically related). The system also collects from a plurality of users, trustworthiness ratings for various information units. Based on these logical relationships and collaborative filtering with the users'"'"' preferences, the system generates individualized trust ratings that predict how much a user will trust any given information unit.

Claims

1. A system for determining information trustworthiness, the system comprising:

at least one terminal; and

at least one ratings server,

wherein, the at least one terminal and the at least one rating server are in communication via at least one network to;

(a) receive a trust rating request for an information unit from a user,

(b) generate the trust rating for the information unit based on collaborative filtering with user profile data and at least one stored logical relationship between the requested information unit and at least one other information unit, and

(c) display the generated trust rating to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information unit is a URL for a website.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s profile data includes at least one trust rating for an information unit that was provided by the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein trust rating is further determined based in part on at least one stored trust rating associated with the information unit that was provided by another user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the logical relationship comprises at least one of the following:

logically consistent, logically inconsistent, logically identical.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the logical relationships are provided by at least one user of the system.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein if the logical relationship is logically inconsistent and the user trusts the at least one other information unit, then the generated trust rating will be lower than if the user did not trust the at least one other information unit.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein a trust rating is generated based on an average rating for the information unit if no profile data is stored for the user.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the information unit further comprises at least one of:

an article, a paragraph, a sentence, a phrase, an image, a video, a number, a link.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein all of the information units contained in the website are associated with the same trust rating.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein different information units associated with the website have different trust ratings.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein a toolbar application operating on the terminal is the user'"'"'s interface to request the trust rating and display the trust rating to the user.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein if the user previously provided a trust rating for the information unit, the user'"'"'s own trust rating is displayed.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one terminal and the at least one rating server are in communication via the at least one network to receive a trust rating for the information unit or another information unit from the user.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user'"'"'s provided trust rating is used to at least partially determine a second trust rating for a different information unit for another user.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the user'"'"'s provided trust rating is used to modify a second trust rating for at least one different information unit that was previously provided to the user.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the user'"'"'s provided trust rating is used to at least partially determine at least one different trust rating for a different information unit requested by the user.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one terminal and the at least one rating server are in communication via the at least one network to receive a tag from the user indicating that the information unit is logically related to another information unit.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s provided tag for the information unit is used to at least partially determine a second trust rating for the information unit for another user.

20. A method for determining information trustworthiness, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a trust rating request for an information unit from a user at a ratings server,

(b) generating the trust rating for the information unit based on collaborative filtering with user profile data and at least one stored logical relationship between the requested information unit and at least one other information unit at the ratings server, and

(c) display the generated trust rating to the user on a terminal.